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Hi,
I've built an interactive PDF using InDesign. It has a lot of buttons, 162 on one page. 54 of the buttons are used as triggers to reveal 2 buttons each.
When exported, all of the buttons work as they should if viewing the PDF in google chrome. When viewed in Acrobat, 4 of the triggers do not reveal the buttons linked to them. I have entirely built the InDesign document from scratch 3 times now to rule out any human error. The main annoyance is that it works perfectly in chrome, just not in Acrobat (which is my clients default PDF reader).
Has anybody experienced anything like this before? Or alternatively, can anybody think of a work around or different way to programme this?
Thanks in advance!
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Can you show us such a PDF?
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Hi Willi, here is a link to the file: test-forum-01.pdf - Google Drive
As you will see, all of the data appears in chrome. But in Acrobat the data for Vietnam, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey does not show when you click the buttons (flags).
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shayjay_bc wrote
Hi Willi, here is a link to the file: test-forum-01.pdf - Google Drive
As you will see, all of the data appears in chrome. But in Acrobat the data for Vietnam, Pakistan, South Africa and Turkey does not show when you click the buttons (flags).
Hi,
I can confirm the issues with Adobe Reader.
Chrome is showing all markers and all data with all countries.
Adobe Reader and Acrobat will not show the marker and the data at the side bar with Vietnam, South Africa and Turkey. Adobe Reader and Acrobat will show the marker with Pakistan but not the data at the side bar.
Since the PDF viewing mechanism of Chrome is working as expected I guess there is a bug with Adobe Reader.
Maybe some acrobat form specialists can look into this in one of Acrobat's forums? There is one dedicated for forms:
Hm…
Very hard to suggest something reasonable.
Redefining all actions in Acrobat is very hard, Acrobat's interface for that is horrible. Far from helpful if you are working with hundreth of buttons. Nevertheless I tried something successfully with a PDF where I removed all buttons but the ones necessary for Vietnam. Just to see if that is working somehow.
Tried another version using layer actions as well.
Successfully, but again a horrible experience because I could not select two or more layers in one go.
FWIW:
If your audience is using Adobe Reader for Desktop only, the following will have no impact on your workflow:
Chrome on Mac OS X will show all layers by default. The layer actions with buttons will not work.
Firefox on Mac OS X will not work with button actions at all.
Regards,
Uwe
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Hey Willi, any ideas?
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Have you tried to recreate those links in Acrobat Pro itself?
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Hi Steve. This is something i have been trying to avoid because of the large numbers of buttons it would take a really long time to set up. In InDesign it's easy to select a large number of buttons and toggle the visibilty, in Acrobat Pro they have to be done one by one. That route will have to be a last resort.
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The trouble with the PDF format is that there are a number of PDF viewers of variable quality.
Have a look at this blog to see some of the issues: It's okay to say no to interactive PDF
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Thanks Derek. I am familiar with this blog article and have done a lot of research in to interactive PDFs. My confusion is why in Acrobat some of the buttons are working and others not. They all have identical functions and have been set up in the same way. I would understand if none of the buttons worked but i think this is a glitch rather than a compatability issue with the reader.